Fearless
by M. D. Jensen
Summary: I understand you hold the record for that game. It shall never be broken, they say.' Lucius, competing in the stump game, feels fear for the first time. Premovie by about 3 years. Hinted at IvyLucius. Rating for bad words in AN's! R&R!


Disclaimer: I do not own most of the characters mentioned here. Christop Crane, Finton Coin and Jamison (to whom I gave the first name 'Simon') are all in the movie. (Before you ask, 'Jamison' can be either a given name or a surname.) Joseph Clack is Mrs. Clack's son, and I came up with him only because I needed another guy for the fic- same with Hampton Coin, Finton's brother.

Summary: 'I understand you hold the record for that game. It will never be broken, they say.' This is that story. It kind of combined in my mind with Lucius's sole fear of Ivy in peril, and this is what I came up with. I place this maybe three years before the movie.

_Fearless_

His arms aching, Lucius Hunt resolutely kept them stretched out to his sides, bird-like, as they had been for almost what felt like hours. Half a dozen boys- almost every male between the ages of twelve and twenty in the entire village- crouched behind the trunk of a nearby fallen tree, clearly beginning to wish they had never challenged Lucius to beat the current record at the 'stump game'. (Most boys played somewhat casually, just for a handful of minutes; few actually thought they could set a new time to beat.)The record, as it stood, was thirty-seven minutes and a few odd seconds, held by Hampton Coin, who had invented the game in the first place and had since married and outgrown it. His brother Finton was among those who watched now in amazement as Lucius stood stoically put, very well on his way to having his name featured in village legend. Many before had tried to exceed Hampton, but none had come close.

"He's not even shaking," Lucius heard one of the boys- Christop Crane- whisper.

"We shall be waiting all night," another- Joseph Clack- muttered back. "We should not have convinced _Lucius__ Hunt_ to come. We should have known this would happen! He makes cowards of all of us."

"It wasn't my idea!" Christop hissed. "'Twas Finton's. Yell at him, if you must."

"Quiet!" Finton looked back over his shoulder at all of them. "Six minutes and he will have beaten Hampton's record." Finton turned back around to watch the soon-to-be champion in fascination. Lucius met the younger boy's eyes, and smiled slightly. Finton was biting his lip, looking nervous.

"How are you doing, Hunt?" Christop called. Before Lucius could reply, something howled in the distance, and Joseph visibly cringed.

"My arms ache," Lucius replied honestly, unfazed by the sound.

"You are not yet afraid?" Christop demanded. He tried to make his voice sound friendly, but the question came across as more of an accusation, a suggestion of doubt that Lucius truly was calm, and not merely masking his fear. Lucius shook his head slowly.

"Christop, declare his victory and let us return!" Simon Jamison, the youngest of them at twelve, begged. "You heard the noises just now."

"That was just a distant wolf, coward," Christop snapped, without taking his eyes off Lucius.

"But what if Mr. Walker discovers us? You know he looks unfondly upon this game."

"That is only because his daughter Ivy has been wanting to join us in it for years, and Mr. Walker knows that soon he will not be able to prevent her any longer," Joseph said wisely. Simon smacked him, sending his bowler flying off his head, and the smug look off his face. Lucius saw him scowl as he retrieved his hat from the ground.

"Ivy is a pretty one," Simon commented off-handedly.

" Kitty is moreso," Christop debated, his gaze still on the stump where Lucius stood in a laughable pose, back to the woods and arms beginning to tremble from being held aloft so long. "Perhaps I shall court her, when the opportunity arises." Christop's eyes softened slightly, as they did whenever he spoke of Kitty. The boys around him chuckled. The site made Lucius feel slightly guilty; it was well known that Kitty desired his- Lucius's-courtship before all others'.

Something stirred very slightly in the pit of Lucius's stomach. He did not wish to court Kitty… Simon was right, Ivy was beautiful. His mind filled with an image of her wavy strawberry-blonde hair blowing in the wind… her blue eyes, which could not look at him but looked through him instead…

"Three minutes," Finton announced, looking down at his pocketwatch.

The wolf keened again, and suddenly the warmth in Lucius's stomach turned to a piercing dread. Ivy… what if Ivy was in trouble? What if she had snuck off again, eager to join the boys in their game… it was entirely possible. She had always been more interested in boys' games. What if she had lost track of her path, as could easily happen as well, and wandered instead into the woods? She would not see a wolf coming; might not hear it until it was too late.

Lucius felt his body give a sudden, sharp jerk, which lessened into shivers. _Ivy could be in trouble…_

"Don't lose heart now, man!" Finton shouted. "You are only two minutes away from beating my brother's record!"

"Be _quiet_," Simon implored.

But something in Lucius told him to get off the stump and go to Ivy… go to the Walker's house and make sure she was there, unharmed and smiling. _This is a stupid game, anyhow_, he reminded himself. He didn't need to prove himself by standing on an old, rotting tree trunk like the other boys did.

_Two minutes, though_, he thought. _Two minutes and I shall have beaten Hampton Coin's _unbeatable_ record._

Still, something told him to run to Ivy. There was nothing he wanted more than to have her next to him, to feel her hand in his… that touch, he thought, would give him courage to stand here long into the night, and longer. To stay with his back to the menacing woods until he drifted into sleep still standing and fell bodily off the stump.

A terrifying, gut-wrenching image of Ivy, maimed and bloody and dead, her throat torn, formed in his mind and stayed there no matter how tightly he shut his eyes.

"One minute," Finton announced. "It is incredible, you're almost there!" As if to protest this, the wolf howled again with its mournful cry of a love lost. Lucius felt his limbs tremble, not just from holding the dead weight of his arms in the air. The picture of Ivy was still burned in his thoughts. He realized that, incredibly, he was experiencing fear- he was completely terrified. A detached, more logical part of his brain was fascinated by this. He didn't think he had, before this moment, truly understood what others referred to as 'fear'… the primal instinct to flee somewhere, anywhere.

_I do not fear for myself. I fear for Ivy._ Lucius frowned slightly.

"Thirty seconds," Finton said, his voice breaking sharply through the silence. The other boys had quieted and were watching in awe as a piece of Covington Woods history was born.

"How do you do it, Lucius?" Simon asked, reverence in his voice. "You were completely unafraid until a few moments ago. Good, brave men have not lasted as long as you."

"I… do not fear Those We Don't Speak of… even now," Lucius replied slowly, resisting the illogical urge too look over his shoulder and into the woods for Ivy. As was his custom, he let his silence say the rest.

Finton began a paced, excited countdown: "Ten seconds, nine seconds…"

_Ivy may need me,_ Lucius worried. He noticed that his heart had begun to beat rapidly. _I should… I _will_ run to her._

"Two, one. Lucius, you've done it!" Finton screeched, climbing to his feet to run. The other boys jumped hurriedly up besides him, Christop straightening his shirt as they began a frantic sprint back to the glowing windows of the houses. "You will go down in history- a full twenty seconds longer than Hampton Coin!"

Finton slowed very slightly when he realized that Lucius had already pulled ahead of them and was halfway down the slope to the village.

_Ivy… please be home. Please be safe._

Lucius raced down the incline, Finton, Christop and the other boys forgotten in his wake. He nearly tripped but righted himself, not stopping until Ivy's house was directly in front of him. The feeling in his gut- the emotion that he now recognized as fear- had not left him. It felt urgent, felt more genuine and intrinsic somehow than anything else he had experienced before. Slowing to a frenzied trot, he circled the house until Ivy's window was in view.

And there she was. Perfectly safe, sleeping in her bed, looking porcelain and lovely. The tension drained out of him and left Lucius feeling foolish and slightly dizzy. He turned and leant his back against the side of the house, seeing the other boys rush down the slope giddily and join him.

"Lucius…" Finton panted. "What's wrong?" His hazel eyes were bright with excitement but looked concerned at his friend's speedy exit.

Lucius opened his mouth slightly, but could think of nothing to say. Instead he shook his head to signal that all was well. Finton still looked worried.

"So… Lucius… Hunt… is human afterall," Christop gasped slightly, still out of breath from his sprint, and from the residual fear of being that close to the woods. "What frightened you so?"

"You heard the wolf!" Simon squealed behind them, and went ignored.

Lucius wondered if he should explain what had just occurred, and after a long pause decided to. "I was concerned that Ivy Walker may have attempted to follow us again. I worried that she had gotten herself lost." Lucius spoke slowly, enunciating every word carefully. "I wished…" _to see her_, his mind said "… to make certain she was all right." He said aloud.

The rest of the boys seemed to catch his unspoken meaning, for all of them grinned knowingly. All except Simon, who looked crestfallen.

"Ivy _is_ very beautiful," Joseph said knowledgeably. Lucius said nothing, but felt heat rise in his face from the embarrassment of both almost losing his bravery and essentially admitting to harboring feelings for Ivy Walker.

Finton, seeing this, stepped in. "It is growing late, nearing midnight. We should return home."

Christop nodded, yawning. He thrust his hand at Lucius, who accepted and shook it. Joseph threw one more mocking look at Lucius and, laughing, the group of boys headed home, leaving Finton and Lucius behind.

"Capital show tonight, Hunt!" Christop called over his shoulder. Various sounds of acknowledgment came from the others, then they were out of hearing range.

Finton and Lucius, whose houses were side by side, started in the same direction. "That was fantastic," Finton said as they walked. "Truly, Lucius, almost thirty-eight minutes. Well, aren't you excited?"

"My arms ache," Lucius said quietly. His pulse had returned to normal and his breathing was back under his control, but he still felt shaken. Fear was not something he cared to experience again. It had left him nervous and embarrassed, and Finton sensed this.

"Lucius… I am your friend. You can confide in me." The boy stopped walking. "What happened? You looked as if you could stand on that stump all night. Why did you run, all of a sudden?"

Lucius stood silently for a moment, weighing his words. "I thought of Ivy in danger,"  
he said at last. "The thought… terrified me." He paused, wondering what else to say.

"Lucius…" Finton said quietly. "That is nothing to be ashamed of. You are still the bravest man in the village! I…" Finton shook his head in a self-disparaging way. "I lasted a mere twenty minutes before fleeing. Twenty minutes! And 'twas _my_ brother who _invented_ the game!" He put a hand on Lucius's shoulder and shook him gently. "Be happy tonight! You have set a new record. It shall _never be broken_! Surely that's something to celebrate! Something to tell your children of! You _alone_ do not fear Those We Don't Speak Of!" As if to accent his point, Finton's voice shook slightly at the creatures' mention.

"And," Finton continued. "Ivy is well. You saw her yourself. Do not worry so."

Lucius smiled slightly. "Thank you."

Finton nodded and the two resumed walking. "Do you plan to court her once Kitty is spoken for?" Finton said after a small stretch of silence. Lucius nodded slowly.

Finton grinned. "You'll suit each other very nicely." He shook his head, laughing. "You know, if anyone could possibly beat your new record on the stump, it's Ivy Walker."

Lucius laughed. The image of Ivy safely in bed was painted in front of his eyes, and seemed to be soothing away the last of his fear.

Again, in the distance, a wolf howled, and very, very suddenly, Lucius realized just how much he loved Ivy Walker- differently than as his childhood friend. Why else would he have been so afraid?

_The End_

AN: Meh! I hate the ending. Like, really, I do. I never know how to end fics! Suggestions are welcome, and if I get a better idea, or one of you offers one, maybe I'll change it. Just the last few lines… they majorly bug me! And you know what else? Era- (or Village-) dialogue is damn hard to capture properly! Eeeep! Also, I'm afraid that I may have made Lucius sound a bit obsessive… sadly, that's just me overlaying my own OCD on him. So that's the reason for that!

Also, on an entirely different topic, I have seen the Village four times now! Yeah! (Hope to make it five by next week:) )And I finally managed to remember all of Ivy's song long enough to get home and write it down! E-mail me or say in a review if you want the words. I tried to work them into this fic but couldn't.

Please, people… review!


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